Police released names yesterday of the four people involved in Sunday's fatal car crash at Cascadilla and North Fulton streets.Dominique Slaughter-Smith, 20, of Fairburn, Ga., and Prince J. Griffith, 21, of Ithaca, both died at the scene of the accident, according to an Ithaca Police Department news release.
Rakim Slaughter, 24, of Ithaca, is in critical condition at a trauma center in Syracuse. Isiah Mack, 19, of Brooklyn, was released from care at Robert Packer Hospital in Pennsylvania, police said.
The accident investigation is continuing with assistance from a New York State Police forensic unit. The state forensic team is collecting evidence from the vehicle and working to determine where passengers were seated. The driver has not yet been publicly identified.
Ithaca police Sgt. Jacob Young said, [quote] "Speeding was definitely involved, and we're looking into other things,"
According to police, the four were heading south in a Nissan sedan on Route 13 shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday. The sedan entered the city at a high rate of speed and skidded from the right lane by the Purity Ice Cream parking lot. The vehicle crossed the lane and hit the left curb, sending it airborne. It appeared to strike a utility pole roof-first at the intersection of Cascadilla and North Fulton streets.
No other cars were involved in the accident.